A few more pictures

Akua and Dash plotting something. This was on Akua's last day with us. We spent part of the afternoon hanging out in the yard.

Magick (back) and Akua (front) investigating something in the grass

Akua bottom, Dash left, Magick right lounging on the stairs. For some reason the stairs are one of the afternoon napping spots. Akua lounged on the steps anytime Dash and Magick hung out there. I suspect that they like looking out the front door, and keeping track of people upstairs and downstairs.

Fostering thoughts

Fostering was fun and challenging, saying good-bye was hard. But given the right circumstances and if my youngest son is up to it I will foster again. My youngest son adored Akua, and saying good-bye to her was hardest for him. What I would say is if you have ever thought about fostering, is you should do it. Is saying good-bye hard? Yes, but knowing the quality of people that make it through the screening process makes it a little easier. Also, when you know that the little one you have will bring fun and basenji humor to their new home, you know you have to share that with their new family. After all our family is already blessed with 2 wonderful basenjis, so sharing is only right. Will Akua have exactly the same life with her new family that she would have had if she had stayed with us? No, but she will have a wonderful life. And I know that she is in good hands, and will have an amazing adventure. It won't be the same as if she had stayed with us, but that doesn't mean it will be worse. I am sure she will have a great life, and will have many great tales to tell.

12 things that fostering taught me
1. Sometimes you have to leap, and do something even if it isn't the perfect time or circumstance. (As Optimus Prime said "Destiny rarely calls on us at a time of our choosing.")
2. Enjoy each and every moment you have with your dogs even the frustrating ones.
3. Everyone/dog learns a little differently. Respect that difference. It also gave me a different perspective on my own as far as behavior and learning things. It certainly gave me a reason to dedicate more time to training.
4. 2 females in the same house won't necessarily kill each other. 3 dogs can actually co-exist in peace.
5. When you have multiple dogs you have to be the big dog. Recognize problems when they are small, and fix them then.
6. Record the moments with words/pictures. It is amazing the progress that they make, and how quickly you forget how far they have come.
7. You get more than you give when you foster.
8. Walking 3 basenjis by yourself isn't impossible. It can even be enjoyable when the appropriate ground rules are set.
9. One basenji can heal the heart and soul of another basenji quicker than any human can.
10. You should always keep a couple of spare leashes and collars around the house.
11. No matter how basenji proof you think your house is, a new basenji will always find something you missed.
12. Basenjis are really good at teaching each other their bad habits. They also help with the good ones.

Akua is adopted!

This is probably one of the final blog postings for Akua. She met her forever family on Friday night, and went home with them. I have a few more pictures of her to share, and will post them when I pull them off of the camera.
Akua was a wonderful basenji to have in our house, and we will miss her. She has left her mark on our family. And while we were sad to see her go, we are happy that she has found her forever family.

May the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rains fall soft upon your fields
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand

Beware of basenjis disappearing and being quiet in your house

I think I have mentioned before that my 2 basenjis are expert door openers. Dash will usually get Magick to open doors for him, even though he is very adept at it. Akua wasn't here long before she too was opening doors.
Monday night I noticed the basement door kept getting opened. I watched and it was always Magick opening it with Akua beside her. In the back of my mind I thought, why do they keep going into the basement? But I would call them and they would come up, so I figured it couldn't be anything to fun, and Dash wasn't going with them. Must be they were hot, and cooling of on the cool basement cement. Right, keep thinking that human.
This morning I had to fill the dog food container that I keep upstairs, so I went down to fill it. Only to discover what was so compelling for them to go down to the basement repeatedly over Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. They had discovered the extra bag of dog food I had, and hadn't opened. They also discovered that a dog food bag is no match for basenji teeth. So they had basically had an open buffet for the last few days. What is amazing is that Dash lives to eat, and he apparently never caught on to what the girls were up to. I guess being lazy and not following them down the steps was his weak point.
Anyway, I put up the food, and closed the buffet. Apparently, all day today while I was at work they kept checking to see if the buffet was really closed. I am not sure Dash will ever forgive them for not letting him know what they were up to.
We are still under heat warnings, so we are walking at or after sunset. The are much better about pulling, although sometimes they forget, and I have to remind them. We trained inside. Tonight I tried something new with the bell. It didn't really get them hitting the bell anymore than before. But it was an interesting new behavior so they got clicked and rewarded for it. I tried putting the bell on a small step stool. I thought having it off the floor might help. They nose touched it, which I rewarded as a small step to getting them to ring it, but that was it. Then Akua and Dash started putting their front feet up on the step stool. Magick finally tried it as well. I think that could be interesting and useful, so I am clicking and rewarding it.
For some reason after training, they seem to have a burst of energy. No, I don't feed them sugary treats. I think that maybe it is their brain unwinding. Anyway, tonight it was a 3-basenji basenji 500, which is a rare sight. Usually, Dash watches as the girls run through the house. Tonight, he was in the thick of the chase.
Hopefully, this heat wave will break so we can spend some more time outside.

Monday Night

It is devilishly hot here in central Illinois. My basenji boy Dash (black and white) really doesn't like to be outside when it is over about 80 degrees especially when the sun is out. My girl Magick and Akua both seem to have the basenji gene for laying out in the sun no matter what the temperature is. They both laid out in the grass in the sun for a while yesterday. Then they discovered that the sun spots in the house had air conditioned comfort too, so they then moved indoors.
We didn't train outside, as I couldn't focus, so I didn't think that it was fair to ask any of the dogs to do so. So we did some training inside. I have been working with the clicker and akua seems to get it. We have also started working on "go on". Although at this point it usually means all 3 basenjis are on the same mat! We also worked with ringing the bell. All three get that if I hold it in my hand, they should try to ring it. Once I drop the bell below their front "knees" they seem to not acknowledge its existance. So I am working more slowly towards getting the bell on the floor and them ringing it. I should have worked on this years ago with mine.
After some training the basenjis laid around on the steps. If it hadn't been so hot, I would have taken them running with the bike, but it was still to hot for that.
We waited for the sun to go down, and it was a long walk for all. My human boys refused to go outside. So it was me and the basenjis alone on the walk. I have to admit that I have let the basenjis get by with murder when I have been walking them alone. I just felt it was easier to deal with them each pulling one way or another than dealing with the pulling. I don't know if it was the heat last night, the fact that my arm was hurting or what, but I decided the days of me being pulled around by 3 basenjis had to come to a halt. So rather than going for distance, we went for "quality". By quality I mean me enjoying the walk as much as them. So anytime anyone pulled we stopped. I became a tree and waited for them to come back to me. We then moved forward again. The first few times, we only made about 2 steps before we started all over again. By the end they all got it, and when they pulled they quickly came back and stood by me. My goal for the next few nights is to get this pulling under control. After all, I feel guilty that I was lazy and let it get out of control, so I really feel obligated to at least have it on the road to being fixed.

Various thoughts/notes from the weekend

Akua continues to be a very nice basenji to have around. Although she does still occasionally surprise me. Saturday night I turned around and was doing some dishes, when I turned back around there she was standing in the middle of the dining room table. She looked at me like she has been doing it her whole life, although when I did say "Akua!" she quickly found her way down. I tried to explain to her that we don't do that in our house, but it didn't take. She again was up there on Sunday afternoon. I hope that she doesn't teach that to mine, and I am trying to find a way to teach her to not do it any more. She is short enough that counter surfing hasn't been a problem with her so far, the table thing is annoying.
Azizi, my youngest, also insisted that since the basenjis sleep in his bed it was time for their annual bath. So Sunday was bath day. Akua went first, and she actually seemed to enjoy it. She held still for me in the shower, and when I was giving the other dogs their baths she was actually trying to get back in to the shower. Of course, after the baths we had lots of running and chasing in the house, yard, house, yard, house, yard, house. Finally, they all settled down for a nap. None of the dogs really needed a bath at least I couldn't smell them, but since they don't sleep with me, I thought it was fair to let Zi make that call.
Akua's coat continues to get softer and shinier on the no-grain kibble. I hope that her new parents can keep her on a no-grain diet.

Lounging on the steps

Akua obviously lost deep in basenji thought.

The steps are a place where the basenjis will often hang out in the afternoon. It has wonderful sun spots, which were all the more attractive since Mom turned on the air conditioning.

Just a normal routine

Things have pretty settled into a normal routine. The dogs hang out with the boys during the day. Sunny days the basenjis enjoy sunbathing on the back steps. Rainy days they find spots on the couches and nap away the day. After work, we occassionally ride bikes, almost every night we walk, and almost every day we do some sort of training. Akua is still a joy to have around. Like my two basenjis she enjoys the walks, and when I ask who wants to walk, she will run to the door and wait patiently for me to get leashes clipped on. We are practicing sitting patiently before we go outside. Akua is very good about waiting in a sit before we go out for our walk.
I do think that she is ready to have her own people, although we love her and she will always have a home here if it is needed, I do feel she is ready for her forever family to take her home.

Sunbathing in the yard

Here is one of Akua enjoying the sun in the freshly mowed grass

Thursday and Friday

Nothing to exciting to report. Walks, bike rides, and general work around the house.
Akua will amuse herself when she gets bored. During the day, she will choose to spend time in the yard. She will defend the yard from the invader birds. In the evening, she will either play with Magick or find something to chew on or grab my lap and take a nap.
Whomever adopts her should be on the lookout for seperationg anxiety, and have a plan on how to deal with it. She will at times dig at a door if there is a door between her and me. The other day she started pulling at some blinds when I was working in the front yard and she was in the house. The majority of the time she is not clingy at all. And she will kennel without difficulty. She still complains when she goes in the kennel at first, but quickly quiets down. I think as long as whomever adopts her is aware that it could become a problem, and is on the lookout for the small signals, she can quickly overcome any separation anxiety.
I have also noticed that she will try to go out the door if I am going out the door with another dog, or even without and dogs. This behavior is mainly directed towards me. Everyone else seems to be able to go in and out without her trying to accompany them. Again, in her new home a little training, and this should be totally manageable.

Wednesday

It was an evening spent around the house last night. Akua and I worked on various commands in the backyard. Her stay and down are getting much better. Then when I was working with Magick, Akua kept wanting to work as well. Later in the evening all the basenjis got bike rides. I increased the distance that Akua ran, and she did really well. After everyone finished there rides we took our evening walk. Akua met a few more of the neighbors last night. She went up to kids and adults and was quite the lady.
After the walk the basenjis watched as the boys set off a few sparklers in the backyard. Then they settled down for a nice pre-bedtime nap on the couch while we watched a movie.
During the night there was a very spectacular lightning storm that moved through our area. Everyone was up to close windows, etc. Akua and Magick came in to make sure all was well in my bedroom, but when Mosi called them they went back to bed with him. She didn't seem to be particularly disturbed by the thunder and lightning.

Tuesday highlights

It was a relatively uninteresting evening for the basenjis last night. Mosi had a birthday party to attend that I found out about at noon! So right after work it was off to find a birthday present, then driving him to the party. Back home to cook for the rest of us, eat, then pick him up again. By the time that was said and done it was already 7:45. All the basenjis were feeling incredibly neglected, so we took a nice walk. After we got home from the walk, I worked with Akua in the backyard (yes it was almost dark) on some sits, stays, downs, and walking next to me. She is getting the idea of stay, and will even stay on a down.
Some random thoughts: Akua has a great personality, and seems to like to meet new people. Whomever adopts her may want to consider getting her certified as a therapy dog. I think that she would enjoy visiting new people, and most people seem to really appreciate basenjis. Akua is also very quick to learn new things. She should be able to get her Canine Good Citizen without much effort. I would highly encourage her new owners to at least consider going to an introductory dog training class that ends with a CGC test. Although, finding a good class that uses either clicker training methods or similar would be my suggestion. She is very sensitive to correction, she is a great candidate to learn a lot of things with a clicker. I think she would also probably love either rally or agility. I know she would like to lure course. Getting an ILP is not difficult I just did it with Magick, and an ILP would be necessary for any of the AKC sanctioned events like lure coursing.

Monday Recap

Yesterday was a busy day, at least a busy evening.
After dinner, it was time for bike rides for all. Akua seems to really enjoy running beside the bike. She also seems to enjoy any time she has alone with me. The only problem on the ride last night was when a couple of really large dogs started barking as we rode past. She hesitated a little, but then we were back on our way, and I swear she looked like she was smiling. We only added a little distance. I think that she has plenty of stamina, but I know from my own that it can be rough on the pads on their feet, so I try to limit the distance and give them some break between bike rides until we get their pads toughened up. Dash and Magick also got their bike rides, and enjoyed them.
After bike riding, I tried to get the grass mowed, but unfortunately the mower had a flat tire, so as soon as I realized that, had to quit the grass mowing. The basenjis think the grass is a little long first thing in the morning when there is still dew on the grass. They will have to wait another day or two until the tire get repaired.
Since I couldn't do my chore of getting the grass cut, Zi and I decided to take Akua to PetSmart for an outing. She almost fell asleep in the car on the way there. Once at PetSmart she was wide awake. She walked right in the door, like she was an old pro. She had no issues with the slippery floor. She and Zi looked at the fish. Gave her opinion on which treats smelled the best. She saw a couple of German Shepards. One was afraid of her, and another was a big puppy. She seems to like to interact with other dogs. She would sit, even without treats, and the distraction of being in the store.
I had forgotten to take any treats, so we got a small bag of treats, and then headed out front to do a short training session. We did some sits, tried to do a couple of stays, shake hands and high fives. I didn't try downs since we were on concrete, and her down isn't that secure. She was admired by several people as we were doing our work. All recognized her as a basenji. She even enjoyed the attention from 2 different children that politely asked if they could pet her.
After all that excitement, we headed home. She rides wonderfully in the car. Once home we took out her stitches from her spay surgery. No issues there. She laid down quietly let me snip them and pull them out.
Finally, to round out the evening, we all went for a walk.
After the walk everyone settled down pretty quickly with their respective boys for a good night's sleep.

Here is a picture of a basenji game of tag:

Head Shot

Excitement on Sunday

Sunday had excitement early in the morning. Around 9 in the morning we saw this guy on our back fence:


We had no idea why he was hanging around. When the basenjis went out in the yard, he took off. A few minutes later there was more excitement when the basenjis discovered a full grown duck hanging out between our fence and our neighbor's fence. The duck eventually got nervous with all the attention and took off for the pond a couple of blocks away.

I didn't think much more of all the strange avian visitors. Although the basenjis seemed to think that there was still interesting stuff happening in the yard so they spent most of the next hour out there.

A little while later, I noticed that all 3 were intensely interested in something in the window well. This usually means either a mouse or baby rabbit has fallen into the window well. So I went to investigate. And in the window well was a baby duck. So all the basenjis got rounded up and into their kennels, while I made some phone calls to figure out what to do with the baby duck. He was unhurt, so we put him into a box. We looked for any other wayward ducklings and didn't find any. So we took him to the pond to release.


I don't think that is his "mother" but she let him fall in behind her and her duckling. And there weren't any other ducks to be found in our area.

The large hawk/eagle/? came back later in the day. I am not sure that I like him hanging around to much. I don't think he could actually take off with either of my basenjis. He might be able to take off with Akua. But he could hurt them. So I took some more pictures of him and then walked towards him. Hopefully he gets the idea that he needs to hang out somewhere else. No other ducklings found last night.

I think the basenjis have forgiven me for letting the duckling go rather than letting them catch it. Although they still check the window well every time they go out.

Pictures

Saturday the 6th

It was a very nice Saturday weatherwise. We started the morning with a nice long walk. I had all 3 basenjis to myself, we were out just after sunrise. It was a beautiful walk. And although 3 basenjis can be a handful, it was a good time. The basenjis got a lot of time hanging out in the backyard. Magick and Akua did several rounds of basenji wrestling. Dash even played a little as well. Akua and Magick have also taken to racing around the backyard, not chasing each other, but actually racing around the perimeter. They are a good match for each other. They also played the chase game. Both Akua and Magick took turns being the chaser and the chasee.
In the afternoon, we introduced Akua to the walky dog. (This is a device that connects to a bike and allows you to ride your bike with a dog.) She took to it immediately. She seemed to really enjoy running next to the bike. We always start slow and with a short distance. When we got home she seemed ready to go again. Dash and Magick got their turns with the walky dog as well.
Finally, just before sunset we squeezed in one more walk. This time the boys came along. So each basenji had their own human, and had a little freedom to explore individually on the walk.
Needless to say, there were 3 tired basenjis by the time we finally settled down for the evening.

Friday the 5th

We all took a field trip to Allerton Park. Akua travelled very well in the car. She enjoyed all the sights and smells that Allerton had to offer. We saw some squirrels, which all the basenjis were quite interested in chasing, but couldn't. She seems to adapt to anything that we expose her to. She is a joy to have around. After hiking at Allerton all of the basenjis were tired. They took a nice long nap in the car on the way home, and then again when we got home.

Thursday

Not a lot happened last night. My parents visited for the evening. Akua warmed up to them immediately. But anytime I sat down she wanted to occupy my lap. We did a little training. But didn't manage to squeeze in a walk. She is such a good little soul, she quickly captured my parents hearts. My dad dubbed her Magick Light, since you really have to look hard to see which one it is.

Wednesday report

Last night we had a good evening. Magick and Akua played in the yard. They each took turns chasing and being the chasee. Akua is as fast as Magick, which I think is the first time that Magick has had someone who can run as fast as her. It was an interesting interaction. Akua is fast, and very good at taking tight corners, and when she is the one being chased does some amazing zig-zags.
We worked on down, sit, stay, shake hands, high-five with each of the 3 basenjis. All went well with that. Although Dash is the only one that cares enough about food to actually do a down on the tile. A little progress each night adds up over time.
One majorly cool thing happened last night, Akua wagged her tail at me. It wasn't the whole hearted, whole tail wagging I get from Dash. It was a small little quiver, but it was definitely a wag, and the first time I have seen one from her. So that was very very nice. She continues to be my little shadow most of the time. She always seems to know where I am, and will usually follow me throughout the house or yard, but she isn't clingy and will certainly leave me to go have fun.
It is still a challenge to juggle scratches, pats, pets between 3 basenjis with only 2 hands. But it is sort of a nice problem.

some more pictures

Tuesday morning report

Akua did well yesterday in the kennel. It was her first full day in the kennel. She wasn't destructive of the blanket I left in the kennel, although I think she played and further shredded the shredded paper I put in with her.
Last night we worked on sits, stays (I don't think she has ever done them before), shake hands, and down. She has a good idea about down now. She will down on carpet or grass, but won't do it on cement, or tile. (Not to surprising she is a basenji after all). Actually, her down is quite nice for the little bit that we have worked on it.
We also worked on recalls several time last night when she was in the yard. Her recall is very nice, may try it on the long lead tonight if it isn't raining.
She is getting faster as she heals from her spay surgery. She is starting to give Magick a run for her money.

Monday Morning a Trip to the bus stop

Last night Akua slept with Mosi. Dash and Magick started the night with Zi. In the middle of the night I heard someone up and about, so let the dogs out. When they came in from the yard Magick insisted that she was going to sleep with Mosi and Akua. Dash went back into Zi's room and relished the extra space.
All 3 basenjis walked Zi to the bus stop this morning. Akua waited patiently at the bus stop. After that it was home and into the kennels for breakfast, and Zi's famous (well at least at our house) peanut butter cheesy bones. Luckily there are only a couple of days of school, so she won't have to be in the kennel for extended periods of time until her kennel training is more established.